On Tap: Noble Rey Brewing Co.’s European Vacation.

Noble Rey Brewing Company Isn’t Known For Staying Still, So It’s Fitting That Its New Farmhouse Saison European Vacation Is Worth Multiple Visits.

Welcome to On Tap! Each week in this recurring feature, we’ll take an in-depth look at one of the many beers now available in the suddenly crowded North Texas brew scene. The goal here is to look at these area beers without our local goggles on and to wonder aloud, “Is this beer good or do I just like it because it’s local?” Should be a fun experiment, no? Cheers to that!

Overview.
Noble Rey marches on with more and more beers, and it’s hard to keep up. Each month, it releases a beer as part of its Heir to the Throne series, which isn’t even considered part of its flagship or quarterly series. Just last summer, we reviewed Noble Rey’s Bridesmaid’s Tears, a tart and also interesting rhubarb kettle soured farmhouse ale. This time around, though, we’re spending some time with a beer that colors way more inside the lines. I appreciate each approach coming from Noble Rey — the wacky as well as the straightforward. I can’t say that I prefer one approach over the other when it comes to Noble Rey beer. They are all OK with me!

Background on Saison.
For a primer on the saison style, check out our reviews of 903 Brewers Trot Line Saison or Cedar Creek’s Clover Kicker. The saison style hails from Belgium and/or France, and it’s historically known as summertime or harvest-time thirst quencher. Granted, this is no poolside chugger, as the aromas and flavors ask that you slow down just a tiny bit more so they can pass the praise via your nostrils and your palate. Common aromas include an unmistakable spicy note, citrus and a classic twang that some Belgian brews have. Flavors largely mimic the aroma profile, with spicy notes noticeable in the hop flavor, along with citrus to boot. Carbonation is typically high on this style, sometimes approaching champagne-like. ABV can be all over the place, ranging humble table beer all the way to up over 10 percent.

Appearance.
European Vacation pours a pale gold color into my glass. I see a small bit of floaty haze in this beer, but that visual footnote really requires a squintingly-close study. I also notice some sediment bits that fall to the bottom of my glass. Overall, the beer is clear and what minute amount of chill haze I notice on the pour is now gone. This is a very bubbly beer, as my glass seems to be sitting here bubbling almost like a glass of champagne. I’m going to chalk this up to user error on a bad first pour; a couple of tiny nucleation sites on the bottom of my glass prevent me from calling this glass beer clean. Oops! On second review (not pictured for fear of embarrassment) I try pouring a second beer into a different glass and I redeem myself.

Aroma.
For just an everyday type of saison, European Vacation exceeds my expectations in the aroma department. It’s a bit tough to unpack the farmhouse adjective that beer nerds kick around a lot, but let’s take a shot. I get hints of red apple rind, alcohol, orange and a bit of spicy clove on the nose. None of these aromas stand out too far compared to the others, and most of the nose on this beer can be attributed to the yeast and its lovely fermentation byproducts.

Flavor.
The fruit rind thing plays through to the flavor. And behind that, I get a gentle tingle of spice and hop bitterness. The malt backbone is more noticeable here on the taste, but this beer has a very biting, clean, crisp finish to it. All in all, the malt is here for sugar and color, and gets the hell out of the way for the real star of the show here — the saison yeast.

Mouthfeel.
Carbonation is cranked up a bit here, and rightly so for the style. Based on what I calculate based on European Vacation’s ABV, original gravity and my guess that Noble Rey uses a vigorously attenuative yeast, what we’re left with is a beer that ends up in the 1.000-1.005 neighborhood on the final gravity. In layman’s terms, it’s a crisp, dry finish here with almost zero residual sugar. Even with its low ABV, Noble Rey teases out a medium body on this beer and it is pleasantly enjoyable.

Overall Impression.
I must be honest: I initially thought that Noble Rey was going to phone it in with this beer. I’m somewhat distracted by its lineup of those other beers, you know, the wacky ones that get more shares on social media. But after spending a little bit of time with European Vacation, I regain focus and I’m on board with it. There’s a sneaky amount of body here for a 5 percent ABV beer. The beer brings a ton of fruity aroma and spicy flavor to the party, and it’s one that you can enjoy in multiples and still stay on your feet. Granted, the saison spice and twang is here, so maybe this is a two-beer scenario and then on to something else for balance’s sake if the farmhouse style isn’t your jam.

Score.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give Noble Rey Brewing Co. European Vacation a 7.

Ben Smithson is a beer fan, avid homebrewer and foodie. If he's not brewing, learning or writing about beer, you might find him hanging out at one of the local craft beer joints in East Dallas. To counter his bad habits, he rides his bike and kayaks when the weather is nice.